


Boo To You Too

by Ailette



Category: Avengers (Comics), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Halloween, Imported, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-28
Updated: 2014-08-28
Packaged: 2018-02-15 03:57:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2214897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ailette/pseuds/Ailette
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Halloween prompt #36: Halloween costumes become alive.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Boo To You Too

Cutting off the end of the cable in his hand and putting the other one to the side, Tony grabbed blindly for the soldering rod and accidentally knocked it over in its holder.

“Dammit!” He hastily pulled his hand back from the scorching tool and jumped to his feet. He was already halfway across the room when he spotted the angry red mark on the back of his hand. Thank God he didn’t actually touch the tip—liquid metal was not something he wanted on his skin ever again if he had any say in the matter. The wound was small, but as burns went, it hurt like hell. He held his hand under the stream of ice cold water for a good minute before he cursed again. It wasn’t just this scratch that made him angry; he never got out of the garage without at least one or two new marks somewhere on his skin.

But by now, he’d nearly cut his own hands off twice and if the safety of the armor would have activated just one second later, he would be missing the head for his thoughts at the moment (and wouldn’t that be a cliché to happen on Halloween). He’d stopped counting the bruises and gashes after he’d reached twenty.

“Dammit,” he said again as he turned the water off, looking down at his hands accusingly. He just wasn’t focused today. Something had left him agitated earlier, and he’d left the team standing in the living room of the apartment to stalk off into solitude. It must have even shown on his face just how pissed off he was, since neither Steve, nor Jarvis or Jan had come down to try and coax him back up. It had only taken them so many years to finally accept that getting Tony to leave his work when he didn’t want to was an impossible task.

Of course, just when he thanked God for small favors, the door to the garage slid open. He knew the heavy steps by heart, but as he shot a quick glance to the clock sitting next to the washbowl, his eyebrows slid up. Steve never got up this early. Or stayed up this late. Must have been one hell of a party up there.

“If you’ve come to convince me to come upstairs and join your silly Halloween party, you can go straight back up.” And really, what dignified superhero would want to dress up on Halloween? One of the ‘perks’ of the business was that you got to dress up _every day_. Though as undignified as it might be, it hadn’t been the reason for Tony’s leaving before everything started.

He turned slightly on his heel to throw a glance back at Steve and was surprised again to find him standing there in full Captain America regalia.

“Do we have an emergency? You could have just used the com link—” His eyes went to the little device, sitting mutedly on the table. No, he would have heard had it beeped. He might not have if he had been a little more invested in his work, but tonight? “Don’t tell me this is some kind of trick or treat thing, because I’d get really angry if it was.”

_Especially from you_ , he added mentally, glaring slightly at Cap. He generally didn’t have a problem with the women in Steve’s life. At first, because he didn’t know them; later on, because he knew he’d never have a shot at being the _man_ at his best friend’s side and just wished him the best of luck with his female lovers instead. But. Sharon . That woman had dumped and tried to kill Steve so many times, he’d been physically relieved when the two of them parted ways the last time. As much as he hated to admit it, he wasn’t particularly unhappy when Agent 13 vanished, presumed dead.

Naturally, she would come back and get back together with Steve. Naturally, she didn’t do him any good. And, very unnaturally, when Tony saw them together today, standing oh so close in a corner of the room and whispering, shutting the rest of the room out, he’d felt an enormous pang of jealousy toward the woman and anger toward his friend. That, combined with said room being filled with more or less everyone the Avengers still had contact with in absolutely ridiculous costumes (who in their right mind would dress up as a potato?), had been enough to send him stalking out in huff.

He frowned slightly when Steve didn’t reply. “What is it?” Sighing, he took a tentative step forward. “Are you alright?”

There was no response from the leather clad figure; Steve just stood there, deep blue eyes easily resting on him. Tony’s patience had been wearing thin for too long to be tested now, so he just stepped up to Captain America and swatted him on the arm none too gently, then tried to gently shove the bigger man backwards and into the elevator, signalling he really wanted to be left alone. He wasn’t successful; Steve didn’t move an inch. In fact, the only indication that the other man was even awake at the moment, and not sleepwalking or under hypnosis, was the fact that his eyes followed Tony’s every move.

“Talk to me, Ste—”

He didn’t get to finish the sentence. Before he was fully aware of what was happening around him, he found himself tipped back like a woman in the middle of a dance, one strong arm wrapped around his waist and one supporting his neck, holding him in place as Steve bent down to kiss him.

As their lips met, Tony was too stunned to say anything or hear the beeping noise in the background. His eyes were wide open and to his surprise, he found Steve blue one’s looking straight back into his.

Strange; he’d always thought Steve would close his eyes during a kiss.

Very consciously, he opened his mouth under Steve’s, allowing the other man’s tongue to slip in. If this was some kind of joke, he was willing to weasel his way out of questions later for this, for just a few seconds of this, of _Steve_.

He found his own eyes flutter shut, not able to bear the blank look Steve gave him and his hands finding their way around his friend’s shoulders, securing himself against suddenly being dropped to the ground.

It was childish and stupid and he knew it, but he was disappointed by the kiss. No fireworks in his mind, no world-shattering revelations, and no butterflies in his stomach. He should sue Disney sometime, he thought sarcastically, for getting children’s hopes up for their True Love’s Kiss.

“Oh my God!”

As he heard the shocked shout, Tony’s eyes snapped back open and he whirled his head around to find… _what?_ Steve, dressed in the remains of jogging trousers and a badly torn t-shirt, standing in the elevator door, his jaw hanging open.

For a few seconds, no one moved, the fake Captain America looking at Steve with an impassionate glare, Tony still hanging in his arms and the real Steve staring at the both of them like his head was about to explode. Tony couldn’t blame him.

Then, as if someone had hit a switch, time seemed to continue, reality crushing back into the moment and ruining every possible comic situation that might have been there. Tony hastily started to struggle against the phony hero, effectively getting himself dropped in the process and hitting the cement floor. For a split second the thought entered his mind that this plan hadn’t been his brightest—before his head also hit the ground, sending him into a welcoming unconsciousness.

***

“Tony. Tony!”

He felt two strong hands on his shoulders, shaking him. He groaned.

“You know that if I got a concussion from that fall, you’re doing exactly the thing you’re _not_ supposed to do.”

As he blinked, he was relieved to find Steve grinning down at him, shirt by now only just consisting of shreds and a thin trickle of blood running down from the edge of his mouth.

“I’ve seen you concussed. This is not you concussed,” the real Captain America stated in an amused voice before he got up in one fluid motion and held his hand out, wiping the blood away with the other. Tony gripped it without thinking, letting himself be pulled to his feet. Aside from a short head rush, he didn’t even feel any real pain, so he probably he really was fine.

Bringing one hand up to rub at the spot were no doubt a colourful bruise was forming beneath his hair at the moment, he looked around. The costume lay in a heap not far from where the impostor had been standing, but there was no sign of another human being in the room.

“What happened to the guy in your costume?”

Steve shrugged, also glancing down at the clothes. “I hit it a couple of times and after a few blows it just vanished.”

Tony frowned. He had an inkling where this was going and also that he wouldn’t like the explanation for this. But, it was Halloween after all.

“Don’t tell me. Magic?” He guessed as his eyes slid back to his friend. As Steve nodded, he let out an exasperated sigh. Every damn year and they never expected it.

“Um,” Steve made, looking pointedly down to where Tony was still holding his hand. Startled, Tony immediately let go.

The following awkward pause was new—they’d never had a problem with touching, it came naturally after only a brief time in their friendship and they both quickly got used to accepting, and not much later expecting, the other in their personal space. Steve must have been even more shaken by what he had witnessed at his entrance than Tony imagined. He had to make amends somehow.

“So, what exactly is the situation?” he asked forcefully while taking a step towards the elevator at the same time, steering the situation back to a more familiar topic and gesturing for Steve to follow.

His friend seemed so utterly relieved, it hurt Tony just the tiniest bit. This was why he’d never let himself go, never took any chances. He’d risked their friendship on many occasions, but they mostly evolved around people being in danger or the world about to be taken over by some new evil megalomaniac. It didn’t need the added strain of his hero-worshipping (and more). Still, he’d ended up here. And for what? For a less than mind-blowing kiss by some stupid _magic being_. Fantastic.

The doors slid shut without a sound and gravity tingled at their bodies as the elevator started moving up. Tony felt for his nearest armor, for now just reassuring himself of its presence in the levels above, not yet calling it. For all he knew it might be wandering around somewhere, once again with a life of its own. The thought made him shiver.

“We don’t know who’s behind it yet, but it seems like every costume in the city—at the very least—has come alive. Doctor Strange is on it, but hasn’t come up with anything so far. It must have happened some time after we all went to bed, since all of our costumes are up and about as well. There seems to be something inside of them, or someone, but we’re not sure what it is.”

“But the one in the basement vanished after you just _punched it_ , right?”

Steve nodded absently. “Yeah, but the other ones didn’t. Maybe… Wait.” He tipped the communicator in his ear slightly. “Captain America. Doctor Strange? Do you know what’s happening?” As Steve’s face paled, Tony distantly remembered the new comm device he’d been fiddling with this morning. Impatient to hear what was going on, he fished it out of his pocket and put it in his ear; mimicking Steve’s tapping motion from earlier and using Extremis to enter into the same frequency Doctor Strange was using. He briefly wondered why Stephen Strange bothered with the tech at all instead of just magically appearing in front of them. Maybe his powers were needed elsewhere?

“Stephen, it’s Tony. Sorry to bust in, but if you could repeat what you just told Cap?”

The Sorcerer Supreme’s voice sounded odd over the comm link, even though it shouldn’t be distorted—this was top notch Stark Tech after all.

“Hello, Tony. Like I just said, some _amateur_ was messing with powers he clearly shouldn’t have tempered with. He thought it would be,” Tony couldn’t help but grin as he heard the other man sniff disdainfully. He wasn’t the only one who took it personally when laymen played in his field instead of leaving it to (him) the professionals. “…fun to scare his friends by making their costumes come to life. Instead he created basic copies of the things or people the costumes represented. You’ve got a few dozen presidents, zombies and fake mass murderers running around in New York .”

Tony froze. “Basic copies?”

“Yes. For example, if you had a suit and a mask of Ronald Reagan lying around, it became the president. Not the real person, of course, but—”

“A ghost?”

“No. Not exactly. It’s not a ghost but the essence of a person. The morals, principles and fundamental emotions are incorporated in it, nothing more. I think they aren’t even capable of speech, just primitive actions according to what they think is right.”

Tony felt the look Steve gave him more than he actually saw it. Did that mean what he thought it meant? He returned the look, feeling a need to prove his hypothesis, but as in every normal superhero life, there were more pressing matters at the moment.

“How do we get rid of them?” he hissed, quickly hitting the stop button as the elevator pinged. They needed more information before they could face any other living costumes and judging by the noise outside, they’d reached the right floor. There were a lot of costumes in the tower, after all.

“I’m working on a complete solution, but it might take another ten minutes at least before I can finish it.”

“And what do we do until then?”

“Hit them?” the Sorcerer suggested dryly and the line went dead before Tony could reply.

Both Avengers stared at the door in front of them in disbelief. What had happened to Doctor Strange’s usual detailed if not necessarily helpful advice? Shaking his head slightly, Tony turned to Steve.

“Okay, I’m going to open the door and call my armor. Are you ready?”

Steve looked like he wanted to say something, but he closed his mouth before a word escaped. Instead, he nodded curtly, focusing on the door again. Alright, then.

This time not reaching for the red button and instead using Extremis again, Tony opened the doors. They hadn’t fully opened yet when the armor assembled around him.

But when they both stepped out of the cabin, they simultaneously stopped dead. A person with a less colorful background might have run screaming at the picture that presented itself before their eyes.

Their usual madness was nothing compared to this. Peter was swinging from the ceiling in his pajamas, closely followed by his own costume. Luke was wrestling with the yellow costume of Wolverine while Logan himself was running, claws out and _entirely naked_ (Tony had a moment of deep understanding for so many things Scott Summers had complained and warned him about in the past), towards the costume of Spider-Woman. Both Jessicas were fighting a… well, a _giant pink bunny_. Jarvis had broken out the broom in order to protect both Mary Jane and May from the Cookie Monster, even though both women looked more than ready to defend themselves, pans in their hands.

And just as Tony started wondering which of his friends had dressed up as Batman and Superman, Alice in Wonderland started running towards them with a bright smile on her otherwise eerily blank face.

This promised to be fun.

***

“I can’t believe you ruined my costume! Do you know how long it takes to make one of these? Do you know how _expensive_ they are?” Peter whined, for the fourth time, jabbing one accusing finger at Iron Man’s metal chest. “You’re going to pay for this. Right?”

Tony rolled his eyes inside his helmet before he send the armor back into the wall. “Yes, Peter, I’m going to pay for your costume. Even though I probably saved your life by shooting it to bits when it was about to strangle you with your own web.”

Peter looked like he wanted to argue a little more, but then tilted his head, considered what had been said and broke out into a grin. “Okay, boss.”

A little unnerved but smiling, Tony nodded and then turned as he heard his name being called from the other end of the room. This was his building, for heaven’s sake, and this disaster really hadn’t been his fault. Who else wanted him to pay for something he destroyed while _rescuing his teammates_?

_Oh_ .

It was Steve, standing at the door to the balcony and waving him over, expression set. During all the commotion he’d nearly forgotten about the incident in the garage and the implications of what Doctor Strange had told them.

Carefully closing the door behind him, Tony stepped out into the freezing morning air. Morning? Or was it still night? The fight hadn’t taken long, thanks to the promised magical solution arriving after a quarter of an hour, and all the left over costumes just deflating and fluttering to the ground. Judging by the long streaks of orange on the horizon, it was early now and not late anymore.

“Tony.”

He faced Steve upon hearing his name again.

“Look, about… what happened in the garage.”

Tony resisted the urge to take Steve and make him talk faster, stop with the dramatic pauses in between sentences, because, Jesus, he wanted those answers and he’d waited more than long enough by now.

Steve focused on a point a few inches from Tony’s left ear. “I’m so sorry that happened to you!”

Tony blinked. _What_?

“It’s all my fault, if I had a better grip on my feelings, that thing wouldn’t have… done that to you. Just because I can’t… I mean, just because I’m…” Steve exhaled forcefully, wiping a hand down his face and obviously trying to gather the right words. “I’m so sorry, Tony. I didn’t want you to find out like that. I didn’t want you to find out at all, in fact, but… Look, there is no need to worry. It’s just a crush. A crush that has been going on for a long time now, granted, but still. I swear I’ll never act on it! I never did before and I never would have. It was only that thing and if I had known something like this—”

“Wait. Stop. Stop!”

And Steve paused, still not looking directly at Tony, but the utterly devastated posture he’d taken on as Tony intervened made the smaller man cringe.

“Are you telling me you’ve had a crush on me since… since when, exactly?”

Steve shifted his feet uncomfortably, muttering under his breath so quietly it was hard to hear from where Tony stood. “Sinceimetyou?”

“Wait,” Tony repeated, bringing one hand to his forehead as if to make the thoughts run faster. “You have a crush on me. Just say ‘yes’ or ‘no.’”

A muted “Yes.”

“But you’ve been with all these women!” And that wasn’t exactly fair, because there hadn’t been that many, but… “Sharon! What about Sharon? I saw you two making out in the living room _today_.”

“No. I… took her to the side to break it up before anything could start again. She knew something was wrong and it didn’t feel right to lie to her anymore. Not now that it actually _felt_ like lying.”

“You have a crush on me. I can’t believe it.” Tony shook his head again, this time not to clear it but in shock over their stupidity. The voice in which he said it made Steve finally meet his eyes again, frowning slightly as Tony stepped up to him, chests nearly touching.

Tony slid a hand around the back of Steve’s neck, gently pulling him forward, but Steve stopped him, expression suddenly stern.

“I don’t want you to take pity on me, Tony. And I don’t appreciate you making fun of me.”

Sighing, Tony rose up on his tiptoes and bumped their foreheads together, freeing his hands in the process and cupping Steve’s face in them.

“I’m not making fun of you, idiot. I already got tricked tonight, now I want my treat.”

As he kissed the real Steve Rogers, every thought of ever suing Disney was extinguished.

**Author's Note:**

> Beta: Flowers and pumpkins to freakydarling ! x)  
> A/N: Alright, I suck. It's not Halloween for another two days and I'm already posting my contribution. >.> But! It looks like I won't be able to post anything over the next few days, so I figured better early than way too late.


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